Music I Like: Part of a Continuing Series

Allow me to (self-)indulge you with my first new roundup of 2012. I missed this last year, would've easily been in my Top 10, especially appropriate after today's 'settlement': Ry Cooder: 'No Banker Left Behind.' Other videos: Michael Kiwanuka: 'I'm Getting Ready,' Chuck Prophet: 'White Night, Big City,' Carolina Chocolate Drops: 'Memphis Shakedown,' Eilen Jewell & the Sacred Shakers: '12 Gates to the City,' and Reverend Gary Davis: 'Death Don't Have No Mercy'

Tom Wagner: First the Coverup. Now the Whitewash.

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State Auditor Tom Wagner's successful coverup of possible, OK, likely, criminal behavior, on the part of former House Majority Leader Dick Cathcart is almost complete. But only if you let him and Cathcart get away with it. Just in time for Super Bowl weekend, Wagner 'dumped' the long-awaited report that told us what we already knew. It actually told us less than we already knew, and the name missing from the report is 'Cathcart'. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning.

NAACP Issues Charter School Resolution

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Here's what caught my attention:
WHEREAS, in some cases, charter schools have become a school model that is used to segregate students; and
Ya think? Charter Schools have also allowed School Districts to shift their responsibilities to these students to Charters. Which is why I've always wondered why Charter proponents wanted to serve on Public School Boards. Always struck me as being an employee of Pepsi, but promoting Coke. And you gotta love the way a Public School District Board's plan for your public school is to give it away. It's almost as if they're saying, "Hey, we stink at this education thingy, so we'll give it to someone else."

Thought of the Day

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Rick Santorum is a Catholic. Mitt Romney is a Mormon. The GOP is picking a fight with the President about the Catholic Church's desire not to provide health insurance for their employees that includes coverage for birth control. I wonder if Rick Santorum's recent success is connected....

The Delaware Dems Have a New Logo

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As an aside, I post as Delaware Dem, which is a name I created in 2003 as the name I posted under when Daily Kos was launched. But just because my name is Delaware Dem here does not mean I have any connection to the Delaware Democratic Party. I don't. In no way do I speak for them, and given the shouting matches I have had with John Daniello, he would agree. But I digress... Click inside to see the full logo....

Yet Another Misunderstanding of what “Free Speech” Means…..

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Professor Connell may have had grounds for wrongful termination or suspension. He may have had grounds for libel. But the one thing I know without a shadow of a doubt: his "Free Speech" rights were not trampled upon or violated in any way. People across the political spectrum and throughout society wrongfully believe the First Amendment right to Free Speech means that every American has the right to say anything they want at any time they want at any place they want without any consequence whatsoever. They are wrong.

An Interesting Paul Clark Move

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New Castle County has halted sheriff's sales for homeowners delinquent on their property taxes. County Executive Paul Clark said he issued the executive order Wednesday because of recently released statistics from Dover that show Delaware has the third-highest mortgage foreclosure rate in the country.

Rush Limbaugh is Right.

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He is saying that he Republican base is looking for the purest candidate running, and he is right. The radical religious right voter that makes up the Republican base is a purist. And they are delusional enough to believe that, without any doubt whatsoever, that the purest conservative candidate cannot ever be beaten.

The Gall of Mitt Romney

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"When Republicans act like Democrats, they lose. And in Newt Gingrich's case he had to resign. In Rick Santorum's case, he lost by the biggest margin of any Senate incumbent since 1980." Mitt Romney, quoted by NBC News. Mitt Romney WAS a Democrat as late into his life as 1992.

Liberal Critics of President Obama Did Not Follow FDR’s Advice

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President Obama receives criticism from the left wing of the Democratic Party with respect to several national security and civil liberties issues. The first is is the closing of Guantanamo. Guantanamo remains open, largely due to Congressional insistance rather than any direct action on Obama's part. He asked Congress to close it and Congress said no, and that was the end of the fight. The second issue is the use of unmanned drones to kill suspected terrorists abroad, including terrorists who are American citizens. Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said to a group of progressive reformers "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it." The obvious implication there is that progressives have to convince enough of the public as to why the reform is needed so as to create a public clamor for the reform that is so loud and demanding that FDR would be forced to make the reform. Would it surprise you to learn that keeping Guantanamo open and using drones is popular.... among liberals and Democrats?